Columbia Business School: Unemployment Numbers and Disability Claims Not Linked

In a press release, the Columbia Business School said that long-term unemployment has little influence on the number of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims filed nationally.

“Contrary to the beliefs of many, even in policy circles, our research proves that the unemployed do not directly file for disability following the exhaustion of benefits,” Columbia professor Andreas Mueller said in the release. “The evidence is just not there. As a matter of fact, fewer than 2 percent of workers whose unemployment benefits had expired actually applied for disability insurance.”

The school went on to say that expiring unemployment insurance does not cause a spike in SSDI claims. “In fact, all of the analyses show a 2 percent or smaller correlation between the number of workers whose unemployment benefits had been exhausted and the number of those who applied for disability insurance,” the release said.

“Although we cannot rule out small effects , the takeaway here is we can conclude that there is no convincing evidence that workers whose unemployment benefits have expired apply for disability insurance on a large scale,” Mueller said in the release.

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For more information on Social Security disability qualifications, we suggest you visit our FAQ page. We hope that disabled Americans who cannot work look into qualifying for Social Security disability benefits.